DES MOINES, Iowa -- Seven of the 2016 Republican presidential candidates took on a cordial tone and mostly agreed about protection of religious liberty during a forum held an evangelical conservative group that drew more than 1,000 people.
But they differed in style and tone as potential commanders in chief after the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 by the Islamic State.
The emerging rivalry between Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was evident Friday in the candidates' approaches to the Islamic State. Cruz, a favorite among evangelical conservatives, won applause in defending his call for giving preference to Christian refugees leaving Syria.
"It is neither offensive nor un-American to embrace the simple common-sense proposition that, of course, we should defend this nation and not invite in people who the administration cannot guarantee are not terrorists here to murder innocent Americans," he said.
Rubio's approach aimed to appeal to both mainstream and religious conservatives.
"Paris occurred, and the ISIS attacks are occurring because ISIS has a safe haven in Syria and Iraq and increasingly in Libya, from where they are training fighters and coordinating these attacks abroad," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "We should not allow these safe havens to exist. They should be targeted now."
Also attending the Friday roundtable-style conversation, moderated by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, were retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former technology executive Carly Fiorina.
Christian conservative voters traditionally wield significant influence in the Iowa caucuses. Carson has led some recent Iowa polls and has a strong evangelical following.
Carson was less active in the conversation than many of the others on the stage, especially on issues of foreign policy. He cited the rise of "political correctness" as a key problem in public discourse, saying it is "used as a control mechanism, and it's used for intimidation."
The discussion also dealt with religious liberty, foreign policy and education. Immigration policy was not discussed, and no specific questions were asked about the concept of a government database to track Muslims in the United States, which drew condemnation from several Republican candidates after rival Donald Trump expressed support for the idea Thursday.
Some questions about faith were asked at the forum.
"All the people on this stage ... love our nation, love our country and love God," Fiorina said. "People of faith make better leaders. Faith gives us humility."
Paul repeated a call for Republicans to push Democrats on whether they support any restrictions on abortion access.
"We're going to make them defend that 7-pound babies have no rights a minute before they're born," he said.
Protesters opposing the deportation of millions of people in the country illegally interrupted the beginning of the forum and were removed by police. Demonstrators continued to interrupt the event occasionally and were removed.
Huckabee said he wasn't troubled by the ruckus.
"I realize it's a reminder that we live in the greatest country on earth, and we allow people to disagree with us," he said.
A Section on 11/22/2015